Political/Cultural Geography

Italy's conventional name is 'Italian Republic.' The type of government in Italy is known as a 'Republic." The administration of Italy is divided into 15 regions and 5 autonomous regions. The 15 singular regions are Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emiliar - Romagna, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardia, Marche, Molise, Piemonte, Puglia, Toscana, Umbria, and Veneto. The 5 autonomous regions are Friuli - Venezia Giulia, Sardegna, Sicilia, Trentino - Alto Adige, and Valle d'Aosta.

Italy gained its independence on March 17, 1861, but did not become unified until 1870. Italy established its constitution on December 11, 1947. The legal system is based on a civil law system, appeals are treated as new trials, and judicial review under certain conditions in Constitutional Court, but has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction. Italy's government consists of 3 branches of government, the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial branches.



Italy has multiple ethnic groups, that consists of mainly Italian, with clusters of German, French, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian - Italians and Greek - Italians in the south.
The religions of Italy is 90% Roman Catholic and the other is 10% Protestant and Jewish with a steadily growing Muslim faith.
The languages spoke in Italy are Italian, German, French, Slovene, and some Arabic.



Sources:
"The World Factbook of Italy." cia.gov. Central Intelligence Agency, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.
"Italy's Government." locateimage.com. LocateImages, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.